Tuesdays With Morrie’s Pu Hsueh-liang and King Shih-chieh 13-year friendship on and offstage

SINGAPORE – Taiwanese actor Pu Hsueh-liang, 58, makes it a point to have chilli crab at Jumbo Seafood restaurant each time he visits Singapore. But he will not be able to split a crustacean with co-star King Shih-chieh, 72, who says he will be abstaining from spice to care for his throat.

This dietary conflict is a small thing for the two friends who have spent the past 13 years acting together in Tuesdays With Morrie. Over more than 300 shows – the play is Taiwan’s longest-running theatre show – Pu and King have bonded over drinks and exchanged life lessons.

A delighted Pu says in Mandarin over Zoom: “He’s probably had more drinks with me than any other friend.”

The friendship they have nurtured is apt for a show about the great life lessons that Professor Morrie Schwartz (King) doles out to his former student Mitch Albom (Pu). In the funny and poignant show, the former sociology professor at the end of his life talks about love, illness, ageing and death with his young student.

Pu describes his bond with King, who he considers a mentor: “We talk about everything and if we don’t meet for a period of time, we start to miss each other. When you talk to him, you wish that you could be like him – someone who enjoys every detail of life.”

Godot Theatre Company’s Tuesdays With Morrie, which played four sold-out Singapore performances in 2018, returns to the Esplanade Theatre with five shows from Aug 28 to Sept 1. The Mandarin two-hander is based on American author Albom’s best-selling 1997 English-language memoir of the same name, in which he interviews the titular professor afflicted with the terminal Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Pu and King have performed in this show to repeat audiences in Taiwan and internationally, including Shanghai and Hong Kong. When it came to the Beijing show, the two admitted they were worried about the high expectations of the northerners, but they were greeted with a thunderous standing ovation at the curtain call.

Pu, known for his comedic roles, recalls his nerves for the first show. Worrying that he could not muster tears on stage, he would not let himself live too comfortably in the days leading up to show day. Thirteen years later, the tears and emotional punches come naturally.

“I’m a little more mischievous now. I know which scenes are the tear-jerkers and would put in that bit more effort to move those who are on the verge of crying to shed a tear. I feel a sense of achievement in such cases,” he says.

Their roles might not have changed, but neither actor feels bored with the material as they allow it to change with their lives.

King says that mortality has been a more pertinent topic for him and audiences due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. He adds: “This means that there are thousands of stories out there about being too late to say goodbye, which has happened to everyone everywhere.”

Up till today, the veteran actor makes it a point to give notes to Pu after rehearsals. Pu says a rehearsal that might need only two hours stretches to five hours, as the duo are inclined to chat about their lives and nothing in particular.

On mentors in his life, Pu says that Taiwanese television host and actress Chang Hsiao-yen, 76, has played such a role. “But I felt that I wasted such a good mentor. At the start, I was very afraid to approach her and initiate questions. I even wanted to avoid her, worrying that I might have done something wrong. I respected her too much.”

Today, Pu is much better at appreciating the mentors in his life. It is as if, by playing a character who learns from a mentor-like figure, he has gleaned lessons about what it means to receive wisdom from the people in his life.

Pu is not sure how much longer he can trick audiences into believing him in the role of a fresh graduate, but will he ever want to take up the role of Professor Morrie? He is modest about the prospect, saying: “King is the one and only Professor Morrie in my eyes and in the audience’s eyes. I wouldn’t dare to take on this role, it’s impossible to surpass his performance.”

Asked about the secret ingredient to embodying the role of Morrie, King replies: “It’s not that complicated – you have to be honest to the essence of living. When you are counting down the days in your life, no one has the time to be vague and careless.”

He says he has grown older with the character and accumulated much life experience that has enriched his performance. But, says King, there are challenges to playing Morrie, who never leaves the stage – which poses physical and mental difficulties for the actor.

“I’d love to keep playing Morrie, but I’m not sure if I can physically take it. I’d have to consult my body.”

Book It/Tuesdays With Morrie

Where: Esplanade Theatre, 1 Esplanade Drive
When: Aug 28 to 31, 8pm; Sept 1, 3pm
Admission: From $32
Info:

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